By Chris Chen Ming Li

The Lay Out:

Place the large and small jokers back to back and inverted from one
another in the center, small joker up to start.
This is the "Atmosphere position".
Place the kings around the jokers with their heads
facing the center.
King of Clubs in the east,King of Diamonds in the south, King of
Hearts in the west and the King of Spades in the north.
This is the "Throne position".
Place the queen of the suit at the left bottom corner of the king.
This is the "Fertility position".
Place the jack of the suite at the right bottom corner of the king.
This is the "Warrior position".
Under each king there is a space between the queen and the jack.
This is the "Karma position".
Shuffle and place the numbered cards of each suit under that.
This is the "Bank position".
Turn all of the cards of each suit face down to start.

The Way of the Atmosphere:

The small joker represents the creative/yin energy.
The large joker represents the destroyer/yang energy.
Under the small joker, harvest refills your bank when it runs out.
Under the large joker, you can only turn up the jack.
The atmosphere can change with the tides of war,
` economics or player choice.

The Way of Karma:

This is the main playing field, it represents money for each suit.
through the economic struggle of the draw of a card from each bank
the four suits do the dance of karma.

The Way of Money:

Each of the suits draws a card from its bank and places it in the
karma position. The highest number wins and gets to turn a card.
This may be changing the atmosphere, refilling and shuffling the
bank, or turning up a court card, atmosphere willing.
Under the large joker, restocking the bank will cost a queen,
jack or a king may be forced from the throne.
Under the small joker, an ace equals eleven.
Under the large joker, an ace equals one.

The Way of War:

When two or more suits draw the same number, there is a war.
The outcome of any war is affected by the atmosphere.
Under the large joker in times of war, people of the court will die.
Such as, if a lone knight loses a war with an empire, he dies.

The Way of Knights:

After winning a hand, a suit can turn over a king,
atmosphere willing.
A single king is referred to as a knight, the first to appear.
Knights are powerful, if one knight stands alone while two or more
suits are at war he can change the atmosphere of that war
before the battle begins.

The Way of Kings:

Ascending, A king ascends to the throne for those who serve.
If a queen or a jack joins the knight, he becomes king of a court.
descending, if a knight or a court or an empire has nothing in the
bank under the atmosphere of the large joker it can cause a king
to descend from the throne to do service as a jack for money.
This could also cause the loss of a queen or jack for money.

The Way of Queens:

The queen represents women and children and agriculture.
Queens turn up under the small joker.

The Way of Jacks:

The jack represents apprentices, warriors and industry.
Jacks turn up under the large joker.

The Way of Courts:

The courts represent a balancing of power.
When a king has ether a queen or a jack, you have a court.

The Way of Empires:

Ahh, the ways of empires... May be you could play as Caesar.
Oh, but what would we learn from that ?
Empires are powerful, if one empire stands alone while two or
more suits are at war it can change the atmosphere of that war
before the battle begins.

The Way to Achieve World Peace:

Get all the court cards of each suit face up.

Would You Like to Play

Back  or  Home